Are You Getting Enough B12 to Keep Your Brain from Shrinking?

Holistic doctors have known for years that low blood levels of B12 are linked to poorer brain function (cognition). They also know that a blood test for B12 is a notoriously poor detector of the problem. Finally, they also know — from years of clinical experience — that using a B12 supplement or B12 shots to treat an older person with cognitive problems is just commonsense and effective medicine. Of course, that commonsense is mocked as nonsense by their conventional colleagues, who insist on treating the test, not the patient.

Well, a new study again shows the holistic docs are right. Low levels of B12 are bad for the brain — and they’re not detected by a B12 blood test! The study was conducted by researchers at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and published in the journal Neurology. It involved 121 people aged 65 and older. At the beginning of the study, the researchers measured five biochemical markers of B12 levels (1 of which was a blood test), and also tested the study participants for memory and other cognitive skills.

Four years later, the people with the highest level of four out of five of the B12 markers also had the best scores on their cognitive tests. And MRI brain scans showed the brains of those with high B12 levels were bigger than the folks with low B12. (Not surprisingly, brain shrinkage is linked to cognitive decline.)

And here’s a really interesting finding. Blood levels of B12 were the only B12 biomarker not linked to either cognitive decline or smaller brains. Only multiple and super-sophisticated B12 tests revealed the B12 deficiency — tests you’d never get from one of the conventional doctors who are eager to assure you that your B12 levels are “normal,” and that they have little or nothing to do with any memory or other cognitive problems you’re having. (Maybe those docs have shrunken brains from a B12 deficiency?)

Dr. Teitelbaum, also known as “Dr. T,” is an integrative physician and one of the country’s foremost experts on fatigue, sleep and pain management. The treatment program he developed for combating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Fibromyalgia and related conditions has helped hundreds of thousands of sufferers reclaim their health and vitality.

Dr. Teitelbaum is the Medical Director of the National Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers and author of the best-selling books, From Fatigued to Fantastic!, Beat Sugar Addiction Now! and Pain Free 1-2-3. He has also authored several landmark scientific studies. Dr. Teitelbaum has firsthand experience with CFS and Fibromyalgia — he battled the condition when he was in medical school and had to drop out for a year to recover. Since then, he has dedicated his career to developing effective strategies to treat these conditions and educating the millions of people who need help.